The header picture is through my windshield showing the rain. April ended with a cloudburst that left almost an inch of rain in the gauge on my front patio, although the TV news only reported .12 of an inch. We get very little rain in April, May, and June and this was appreciated.
The rest of the story about the Zane Grey short stories in The Westerners Frontier Stories from a couple posts back.
1. The Camp Robber is about a sneaky thief that sneaks onto the ranches and camps in the area and steals minor things. The ending is a good one and comes as a big surprise to the main character, a cowboy named Wingfield. I thought this was an entertaining tale and liked it very much.
2. The Westerners was not the traditional western of the shoot 'em ups, but it's setting is Reno, Nevada, in the 1920's or '30's when it was widely known as being the divorce capital of the world. Katharine Hempstead meets a handsome cowboy, Phil Cameron, on the street and they are both trying to prevent their parents from divorcing their spouses. This story is rather long, but I found it interesting and absorbing as it works its way to a happy ending.
3. Monty Price's Nightingale - Monty Price is a stand-offish type of cowboy and a little irritating to some of the men he works with. This story of him and a forest fire I found exciting and emotional and enjoyed it, too.
4. On Location - This one is about an Arizona cowboy, who ends up as a double for an actor in a movie near the Painted Desert and and a female double. They both are stand-ins for the big stars of the movie and he gets into a knock-down, drag-out with the fellow he is standing in for. A nice, fun story which I enjoyed.
5. Death Valley - Grey writes about a trip through Death Valley that he and a friend took and gives a good description of the area and their reaction to it. Interesting indeed, since I have never been there, and I don't think I care to go now at my age.
6. Strange Partners at Two-Fold Bay - This is the whale story I mentioned in that previous blog. I didn't know whether to believe it or not, but the story following by Loren Grey makes it pretty clear what happened. It takes place in Australia and Zane relates that some Killer whales (Orcas) helped the men to round up and kill the bigger whales they used for oil, the gray and sperm whales.
7. Of Whales and Men - Loren Grey made the trip to Eden, Australia, which is the town near Two-Fold Bay and talks to one of the old whalers who substantiates his father's story of the orcas. There was one whale, called Old Tom, whose bones were saved and put in a museum in 1938 to commemorate the orcas who helped the whalers and tell the story to all who visit the museum. I still find it hard to believe, but some animals are smarter than we think thy are.
Great to see the rain. Here in Wyoming we are in our wet months, mostly wet snow, two and a half inches of moisture last week. I may have to take a look at the Australia books, we spent two wonderful weeks there a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteI heard people were still getting snow even in Northern Arizona. It's supposed to be about 100 here Wednesday. Those were just short stories, but liked them all.
DeleteI want to read that "Of Whales and Men." Didn't know he wrote anything like that.
ReplyDeleteIt's in the book I mentioned, Charles. His son, Loren Grey, wrote that story. I found it interesting, and Zane has a whale story in it, too, "Strange Partners at Two-Fold Bay.".
DeleteWe have been dumped on here with rain also...suppose to finally get some sunshine this weekend. (I have always enjoyed Zane Grey but its been a while.)
ReplyDeleteYou'll be getting more, too, with the Tropical storm. I enjoy Zane Grey's books.
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